9 Video Games Banned For Ridiculous Reasons
4. Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City Banned In Brazil For Copyright Infringement
It was only a matter of time before we heard from good old Grand Theft Auto. You know this game makes kids want to commit crimes, kill prostitutes, and create a Joker-esque level of chaos in society? Please note none of these claims has been backed up with hard scientific evidence.
Grand Theft Auto is well known for its controversies, but it's the Grand Theft Auto IV expansion The Ballad Of Gay Tony that is of particular note here. The controversy didn't particularly derive from any particular action a player can take, but because of some music.
'Ballad' features a song in its soundtrack called 'Conga Kid' by Daniel Haaksman featuring MC Miltinho. The song is said to have used an unauthorised sample of Brazilian composer Hamilton da Silva Lourenço.
To make matters even more loco the voice singing in 'Conga Kid' is Lourenço's own son.
Lourenço sued Rockstar and Brazilian courts ordered that the add-on should be banned not only in Brazil but worldwide. All this seems to have come up when Rockstar produced papers apparently incorrectly signed by Lourenço.
Wading through the fine points of copyright law is somewhat difficult; doing so in Brazil, which banned a game from America which used music sung by a Brazilian and produced by a German, is just downright baffling.